Finally,some light on power front

Power Secretary Rajendra Kumar,who spent the day monitoring the situation at power distribution company (discom) BSES’s supervisory control and data acquisition centre,told Newsline: “The situation has improved a great deal but some problems still need to be sorted out. There was a fault in the main cable in Old Rajinder Nagar,which resulted in six hours of powercut. It will be restored soon.”

Besides,he said,there were complaints where a row of houses in several areas did not have power due to local faults. “The BSES has been asked to address these issues immediately,” Kumar said.

Meanwhile,both BSES and NDPL bid more vigorously at the power exchange on Monday,senior power department officials said. A statement issued by the CM’s office said,“BSES has bought 25 MW from the power exchange and will buy an additional 25 MW on June 30 (Tuesday).”

According to reports,BSES procured 80 MW on Monday but was able to access only 28 MW of that. Sources said the discom would start getting 100 MW from Uttarakhand on Wednesday. NDPL purchased 100 MW at rates as high as Rs 11.38 per unit,officials said. The discom claimed it has made arrangements for an additional 246 MW for July.

Delhi today also began getting 100 MW from the Central unallocated quota,as promised by Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to Dikshit on Sunday. The CM’s office also issued a notice to government offices to switch off “unnecessary” lights and keep air-conditioners at 24 degrees Celsius.